At the unveiling of the new F1.08 in the BMW Welt in Munich, BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen expressed confidence that the team would build on the progress it made in the past two years and take the fight to perennial front-runners McLaren and Ferrari.

“I think it will be a big step forward again,” he said.

“We have come quite a long way in the two and a half years since the new team was created.

“We’ve had two strong seasons. We’ve put a lot of effort into the new car and the F1.08 includes everything we’ve learned in the first two years.

“Certainly we are very confident to turn the battle in front of us into a battle of more than two teams this year.”

Asked whether he thought the team could achieve its first race victory this year, Theissen said: “It will certainly be difficult, because the teams in front of us are the strongest and most experienced, so it means we have to improve more than they will.

“[But] since we’ve made good progress in the past two years I am really confident we can do it again and close the gap.”

BMW has invested heavily in new people and technology since its acquisition of the team formerly owned by Peter Sauber in mid-2005, and Theissen is confident that all the pieces are now in place for the team to challenge for victories.

“The two-year ramp-up phase was completed by the end of last year,” he said.

“In Hinwil we have 430 people now; we have gone up from 275 to 430 over the two-year period, as planned.

“In Munich we have about 300 people, so in total it’s 700, 730 - which in terms of size is a midfield team but in terms of ambitions we want to be a front-runner.

“All the people are on board, the new factory is up and running and all the machines are running.

“If you look back to what we achieved last year we can claim to have been the third strongest force on the grid while we were ramping up the team.

“So we are at full strength now and we are really looking forward to the new season.”

Theissen admitted, however, that it would be unrealistic to expect BMW to mount a season-long title challenge this season.

"I think that [talk] will be premature," he said.

"I hope our car will enable our drivers to do similar lap times and that means we are fighting for the top positions in the race.

"But I think as a team it will still take another year to really be settled and be mature enough to go through the entire season with such an ambition."